Having brushed against several disciplines over the
decades: Physics, Philosophy of Science, Economics, Computer
Science, Architecture, Town Planning, Mechanical Engineering
and earning my living mostly from writing computer software,
I get really irritated by the over-abstract, convoluted,
vaguely theoretical, pompous, buzz-word prone chat that
permeates both academia and sometimes the workplace.
Reading Derek's contribution I get the same old deja vue
and ennui. But what really depresses me is that
(inasmuch as I can bear to read this stuff) I
wholeheartedly agree with what he says. But an
Evidence-Based Approach should mean we open our eyes and
see some of the things that are going on around us. I
cannot bring myself to call them facts: We all know that
facts are theory-laden and in these post-modern times we
recognise much of what was once called theory as waffle.
But there must be understandable things that can be said
that have some empirical content and are relevant to the
matters in hand. For example :
Nurse training is now disastrous: Tremendous drop-out
rates, few practical skills learnt on the job.
Also in mechanical engineering, civil engineering and the
building trade there are severe training problems because
the learning-on-the-job element has been downgraded or
removed. (See www.faxfn.org ) My informants tell me that
there are few people under about 35 that can do the
practical side of these jobs.
These training problems to come from the recent ascendancy
of words and theory over practice and experience: Degrees
have displaced apprenticeships. But literary and philosophical
though he may be, Eric Cantona didn't learn to score goals
through bookwork. Just imagine what the England football
team would be like if its selection were limited
to people with degrees in sports science.
The current theory that we will get all the jobs in the
world if all most of our children get degrees may be
heading for a severe empirical test. As the third
way represents a rejection of over-zealous theory and
is a search for what actually works we must actually
get to grips with allot more information and have it
more easily accessible.
But where can I find the drop-out rates for nursing
courses? On the internet? Not yet. Isn't it time we
gave our publicly funded academics a duty to make
clear good information available? As a start, I do
hope the staff at the University of Exeter Psychology
department who prepared the notes on Multiple Regression
get extra publication points in the university equivalent
of an Ofsted review.
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